Gangtok: Raman Shresta, bookseller and publisher at Rachna Books, Sikkim has been selected for the British Council’s International Publishing Fellowship 2022.
The fellowship is a peer-to-peer mentoring and professional development programme where publishers from the UK will be matched with publishers of similar career stage and publishing interests from India.
It will be a year-long programme consisting of reciprocal study trips, featuring masterclasses, networking opportunities and professional updating.
According to the announcement by the British Council, the fellows, who were selected via open-call application, all demonstrated a commitment to innovation and internationalism in publishing. They work across a range of genres including education for sustainable development, climate change, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays; in roles including editorial, translations, design and production, for large conglomerate publishers and boutique independent presses and bookstore.
Raman Shresta is among the 12 fellows (6 from India and 6 from the UK) for the IPF 2022 Cohort. As a group, they represent some of the most promising initiatives in translation publishing in India and the UK.
The Indian fellows are Bijal Vaccharajani (Pratham Books), Rahul Soni (Harper Collins India), Raman Shresta (Rachna Books), Riddhi Maitra (BEE Books), Sarabjeet Garcha (Copper Coin Publishing), and Yogesh Maitreya (Panther’s Paw Publications).
The UK fellows are Alice Mullen (Poetry Book Society), Deborah Smith (Tilted Axis Press), Molly Slight (Scribe Publications UK), Sarah Braybrooke (Bonnier UK), Sarah Cleave (Comma Press), and Tamara Sampey-Jawad (Fitzcarraldo Editions) .
This program is part of India/UK Together, a Season of Culture, evolved from the findings of the ‘India Publishing and Literature Sector Study’ conducted by the Art X Company and released in December 2021.
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